Works by
Nina Shengold
(Writer)
(aka Maya Gold)

Fiction

• Clearcut (2005)
  Set in the gloriously rugged Pacific Northwest of the 1970s, Nina Shengold’s debut novel is a page-turning psychological drama that follows three people in search of new lives into uncharted terrain of the body and heart.
  
  When rough-hewn loner Earley Ritter picks up a hitchhiker one rainy night, he can’t imagine how much it will change his life. A "shake-rat" who salvages scrap wood left behind when loggers clearcut, Earley thinks he has nothing in common with Reed Alton, a gifted Berkeley dropout. But when Earley meets Zan, the mysterious woman Reed has been following, erotic sparks fly in all directions.
  
  Amid mounting passions and tensions, the unlikely trio forges a fragile alliance that– like their idyllic patch of forest– will be shattered by violence. Clearcut is both a wildly comic, colorful recreation of a lost time and place, and a moving exploration of the boundaries that divide us... and what it takes to cross them.

Plays

• Homesteaders (1984)
  Award-winning five-character comedy/drama set in a fisherman's cabin in Southeast Alaska.

• War at Home: Students Respond to September 11th (2002) with Nicole Quinn & 40 members of the Rondout Valley High School Drama Club.
  Produced throughout the U.S. and in Canada, England, Australia and Singapore.

• Romeo/Juliet (2004)
  Shakespeare's tragedy, edited for performance by a multi-tasking cast of five.

• Finger Foods (2006)
  Collection of seven one-act plays.

Young Adult

• Harriet the Spy, Double Agent (2005), Writing as Maya Gold with Louise Fitzhugh
  Harriet is impressed to learn that the girl she has befriended, now called Annie Smith, is the person who not only created three names–Rosarita Sauvage, Yolanda Montezuma, and Zoe Carpaccio–but also three distinct personalities to match. This girl has potential. Being a spy has always been rather solitary, so Harriet is glad to have a new friend and spy partner. But then Harriet realizes that Annie reveals very little about herself, and indeed, is not telling the truth about where she goes and who she meets on the weekend. Sport says he’s in love with the girl, but Annie lets drop she’s in love with an older man. Harriet can’t understand anything at all about this thing called love–even when she asks Ole Golly for advice, she still wonders. But as Harriet unravels Annie’s mystery, she comes to appreciate the many different kinds of love there are.  Ages 9-12

Anthologies (Edited with Eric Lane)

• The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues (1987)
  This classic anthology, in print since 1987, provides a wealth of material for actors and acting students, and a wonderful overview of the best of recent plays for anyone interested in the theatre. More than 150 monologues from over 70 playwrights, plus interviews with Christopher Durang, Tina Howe, Swoosie Kurtz and Lanford Wilson.

• The Actor's Book of Scenes from New Plays (1988)
  Here is an up-to-the-minute collection of 70 scenes for two actors--ideally suited for both classroom and audition use--from the best dramatists now being produced: Caryl Churchill, John Guare, Beth Henley, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, Jose Rivera, John Patrick Shanley, August Wilson and many more.

• Moving Parts: Monologues From Contemporary Plays (1992)
  More than a hundred monologues from such contemporary voices as Eric Bogosian, Caryl Churchill, Christopher Durang, Maria Irene Fornes, Athol Fugard, Philip Kan Gotanda, Vaclav Havel, David Mamet, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and George C. Wolfe.

• The Actor's Book of Gay and Lesbian Plays (1995)
  Seventeen one-act and full-length works by a new generation of gay and lesbian American playwrights reflect the diversity of voices emerging in today's theatre. Contributors include Victor Bumbalo, Claire Chafee, Constance Congdon, Keith Curran, Steven Dietz, Linda Eisenstein, The Five Lesbian Brothers, Eric Lane, Craig Lucas, Susan Miller, Cherrie Moraga, Ron Nyswaner, Joe Pintauro, Edwin Sanchez, Will Scheffer, Paula Vogel, Shay Youngblood.

• Plays for Actresses (1997)
  Gather any group of actresses, from students to stars, and someone will inevitably ask, "Where are all the great roles for women?" The roles are right here, in these unprecedented and magnificently diverse collections.
  
  Plays for Actresses includes seven full-length and ten one-act selections with all-female casts by Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Casey Kurtti, Adam LeFevre, Craig Lucas, Lynn Nottage, Paula Vogel, Wendy Wasserstein and others.

• Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays (1997)
  A ten-minute play is a streak of theatrical lightning. It doesn't last long, but its power can stand your hair on end. These splendid anthologies contain enough wattage to light a small city.

  Take Ten's 32 contributors include Laura Cunningham, Mary Gallagher, John Guare, Sherry Kramer, Tony Kushner, Chiori Miyagawa, Nicole Quinn, Jose Rivera, John Patrick Shanley, David Smilow and August Wilson.

• Leading Women (2002)
  Leading Women includes full-length plays and one-acts with mainly female casts, plus 11 outstanding monologues, by such playwrights as Jenny Lyn Bader, Alan Ball, Kia Corthron, Migdalia Cruz, Eve Ensler, Julia Jordan, Ellen McLaughlin, Claudia Shear, Martin Sherman and Diana Son.

• Take Ten II (2003)
  Take Ten II includes 35 ten-minute gems by such playwrights as Taylor Mac Bowyer, Christopher Durang, Sigrid Heath, Warren Leight, Donald Margulies, Mark O'Donnell, Dael Orlandersmith, Craig Pospisil and Mary Louise Wilson.

• Talk to Me: Monologue Plays (2004)
  In this one-of-a-kind collection of monologue plays, Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have gathered a breathtaking array of human voices and stories by master playwrights and emerging new writers. Each of the plays, ranging from one-acts and ten-minute plays to full-length works, creates a rich and specific world. In these pages, readers will meet a dazzling group of dramatic and comic characters: an actress chasing a role as a prison guard on a soap opera, an Indian waiter new to America, a lesbian performance artist taking her father to Auschwitz, a surfer dude trying to summarize the plot of Moby-Dick in under two minutes, and a Dutch librarian hunting down a book that's 123 years overdue. Because each selection is a complete monologue, Talk to Me is an unprecedented source for actors in search of material for auditions, classes, and performances, as well as a literary gold mine for anyone who loves drama.

• Under Thirty: Plays for a New Generation (2004)
  For the vast generation of actors in their teens and twenties, as well as for teachers, directors, and producers, Under Thirty is an unparalleled source of diverse and challenging roles, created by some of today’s finest writers. The twenty plays presented here in full or in part include insightful looks at the pressure-cooker caste system of American high schools as well as heartbreaking, edgy portrayals of twentysomethings adrift in the city. There are snappy romantic duets, large-cast ensembles, and everything in between, populated by richly dimensional, mold-breaking characters: misfit cheerleaders, nurturing drifters, rich petty thieves—even a rogue SAT tutor. The contributing playwrights span the range of contemporary talent, including award-winning dramatists such as Sam Shepard, Donald Margulies, Warren Leight, and Kenneth Lonergan, hilarious humorists such as David Ives and Douglas Carter Beane, and an impressive array of cutting-edge newer voices.

• Laugh Lines: Short Comic Plays (2007 release)